Asylum Seekers

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the recent comments of the Refugee Council's Vulnerable Women's Project, in the light of the November 2009 document Together We Can End Violence Against Women and Girls: A Strategy and the Department of Health's consultation, published on 26 February 2010, on failed asylum seekers.

Baroness Neville-Jones: Violence against women and girls remains prevalent. This is unacceptable and there should be a cross-departmental approach to addressing it. My honourable friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup will discuss with colleagues across government how we take forward our approach in this area.
	The Department of Health's consultation review of access to the NHS by foreign nationals runs from 26 February 2010 to 30 June 2010. Ministers will decide how to respond to issues raised by respondents after the consultation has closed.

Care Services: Commission on Long-term Care

Lord Grocott: To ask Her Majesty's Government what they estimate to be the cost of establishing and running a commission on long-term care.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many public sector employees would be involved in a commission on long-term care; and at what salaries they would be employed.

Earl Howe: Details of the terms of reference and membership of the commission on funding long-term care will be published shortly.

Child Poverty Commission

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they propose to establish the child poverty commission.

Lord Hill of Oareford: Section 14 of the coalition document confirms the Government's commitment to ending child poverty in the UK.
	The Child Poverty Act establishes a Child Poverty Commission to provide advice to the Government on the development of its child poverty strategy. The Act also requires a child poverty strategy to be published by March 2011. The commission must therefore be established in time to feed into the child poverty strategy. We shall make an announcement about the commission in due course.

Crime: Prosecutions

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the cost of each hour spent by police custody sergeants in preparing files to assist the Crown Prosecution Service in deciding whether to bring a prosecution.

Baroness Neville-Jones: This information is not collected by the Home Office.
	The programme set out by the coalition explains our approach to policing with greater freedom for police forces from ministerial control; and police forces which are better able to deal with the crime and anti-social behaviour that blight people's lives, and are more accountable to the public they serve. Our reforms include:
	directly elected individuals to make the police more accountable;reducing bureaucracy that hinders the police, and introducing better technology;publishing crime maps showing the public what is happening on their streets; andregular beat meetings allowing residents to hold the police to account.
	We have already set out our intention to return charging decisions for some offences to the police.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Budgets

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty's Government by what amounts the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs underspent or overspent its budget in each of the years 2004 to 2009 inclusive.

Lord Henley: The table below sets out details of the department's under- and overspends against its DEL budget in financial years 2003-04 to 2008-09. The figures represent the sum of resource and capital.
	
		
			  Underspend/(Overspend)£m % Variance from Budget 
			 2003-041 300 9.5% 
			 2004-05 163 4.7% 
			 2005-062 (37) (1.0%) 
			 2006-07 93 2.3% 
			 2007-08 65 1.7% 
			 2008-09 71 2.2% 
		
	
	Note
	1 Approximately half of the £300 million underspend in 2003-04 was retained deliberately to be carried forward to cover known pressures in 2004-05; and the majority of the remainder reflected savings in non-cash costs, and slippage in and deferral of some programmes.
	2 The overspend in 2005-06 was on non-cash and related to provisions for foot and mouth disease burial sites and common agricultural policy disallowance.

Egypt

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, or intend to make, to the Government of Egypt about the use of its emergency law in relation to political opposition.

Lord Howell of Guildford: In May, Egypt extended a limited version of its state of emergency, first imposed in 1981, for a further two years. Both our embassy in Cairo and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have raised this with the Egyptian Government asking for an explanation for this action.
	We continue to call on the Egyptian Government to honour their commitment to end the persisting state of emergency and urge Egypt to ensure that any new counterterrorism legislation takes full account of international human rights law and its obligations under international human rights treaties. On 11 June at the UN's Universal Periodic Review of Egypt, we called on Egypt to end the state of emergency, which allows for unwarranted derogation of some of Egypt's human rights obligations, such as the use of administrative detention.

Egypt

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made, or intend to make, to the Government of Egypt about allegations of the use of torture in their prisons.

Lord Howell of Guildford: Our embassy in Cairo has raised the use of torture with the Egyptian Government. We welcome Egypt's efforts to follow up cases of torture and encourage them to pursue these cases rigorously through the judicial system.
	On 11 June at the UN's Universal Periodic Review of Egypt, we called on Egypt to accept outstanding recommendations on ratifying the optional protocol to the convention against torture and on extending an invitation to the special rapporteur on torture in 2010. We also called on Egypt to end the persisting state of emergency and to use new anti-terrorism legislation to address current and persistent human rights violations, including the use of administrative detention, and torture.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government under what circumstances the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority does not include a complete record of all matters raised during a new inspection in the corresponding report for a licensed centre; and on how many occasions questions regarding the treatment of patients at licensed centres have been excluded from such reports.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it does not hold this information and to obtain it would be at a disproportionate cost. The process of how the HFEA inspects and reports on centres is provided at the following link: www.hfea. gov.uk/159.html.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many human embryos or cybrid embryos have been used under each research licence granted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for the specific purpose of deriving embryonic stem cells; and over what time those embryos were used under each licence.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it holds information on the granting of research licences as set out under the headings listed in paragraph 3A(2) of Schedule 2 to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, but this does not include the number of embryos used for the specific purpose of deriving embryonic stem cells.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many independent embryonic stem cell lines have been deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank by different centres; and what is the relationship between each of those centres and centres covered by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority research licences.

Earl Howe: Any United Kingdom centre that deposits embryonic stem cell lines will have a research licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). It is a condition of an HFEA research licence that if a stem cell is derived, then a sample of the line has to be deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank.
	The following table shows the stem cell lines currently held by the UK Stem Cell Bank.
	
		
			 Centre Number and type of stem cell lines deposited 
			 Edinburgh University 4 lines human embryonic stem cells (hESC) 
			 King's College London: 6 lines hESC 
			 Newcastle University (Centre for Life) 9 lines hESC 
			 Nottingham University 2 lines hESC 
			 Manchester University 2 lines hESC 
			 Sheffield University (and Axordia) 8 lines hESC 
			 Roslin Cells 6 lines hESC 
			 Roslin Institute 6 lines hESC 
			 Cambridge University 1 line (neuroprogenitor)

Food: Labelling

Baroness Byford: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a Bill requiring the country of origin to be displayed on all food and food products.

Earl Howe: There are currently no plans but discussions are taking place in the European Union on the introduction of new food labelling rules, which include those on country of origin labelling.
	The Government are keen to introduce honesty in food labelling so that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from.

Football Association

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they have given to the Football Association in their bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Lord Shutt of Greetland: Ministers and officials are working closely with the FA to demonstrate to FIFA the Government's full commitment to the bid. Ministers will be attending the World Cup in South Africa and will provide direct support in making presentations to FIFA.
	In addition, as the Prime Minister made clear in his recent phone conversation with Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, the Government are also fully committed to delivering on the guarantees required by FIFA to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.

Government: Ministerial Duties

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the definition of "sustainable development" as it applies to the published list of duties of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord Henley.

Lord Henley: Defra is the champion of sustainable development across government and internationally. The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life, without compromising the quality of life of future generations.

Health: Obesity

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the cost-effectiveness of the three-year programme Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-Government Strategy for England.

Earl Howe: The department is assessing the impact and cost-effectiveness of a number of individual programmes contained in Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives.
	As these programmes are still running, most of these evaluations have yet to report. However, there are reports on the early phase of Change4Life and cycling demonstration towns.
	Change4Life One Year On is available at:
	http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20100509080731/http://dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_112529.
	Reports on the impact of the cycling demonstrations towns, including an economic evaluation of this initiative, are available at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/cyclingengland/cycling-cities-towns/results.

Health: Pneumonia

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they will take to promote the objectives in the recent World Health Assembly resolution on global action against child pneumonia.

Earl Howe: The resolution advocates a range of measures to help prevent and treat pneumonia more effectively, including strengthening of health systems, a multisectoral approach and implementation of the global action plan for the prevention and control of pneumonia.
	The United Kingdom is playing a key role in taking forward the advance market commitment on pneumococcal vaccine, providing $485 million out of the $1.5-billion donor commitment, which could save up to 7 million lives by 2030. In addition, the UK has a £1.3 billion commitment to the International Finance Facility for Immunisation, to be spent through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI).
	The UK will continue to support the work of World Health Organisation, GAVI, and developing countries in support of the objectives in the resolution.
	Domestically, the UK will also continue to provide pneumococcal vaccination (against Streptococcus pneumoniae) for infants and those aged 65 and over, and against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) for infants.

Housing

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will continue the housing market renewal programme.

Baroness Hanham: All programmes and policies are being reviewed as part of the next Comprehensive Spending Review. In addition a reduction in the housing market renewal programme is included in the £6.2 billion of savings from government spending in 2010-11 announced on 24 May. The current capital budget of £286 million announced in December 2009 has been reduced by £50 million. The Government are consulting with pathfinders on the most fair and transparent means of achieving this saving.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place in the Library of the House minutes of meetings and correspondence entered into by the Director of Communications, Content Industries Directorate, at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or his staff with members and executives of Community Broadband Network Ltd in the setting up of Independent Networks Co-operative Association as an unincorporated association or Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd; and how they checked the history, operation and record of contractual delivery of Community Broadband Network Ltd and its executives and members.

Baroness Wilcox: Documents relating to the grant offer to INCA are the subject of a Freedom of Information Act request and will be released shortly.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will investigate why on 17 December 2009 a grant offer was issued by the Director, Communications and Content Industries Directorate, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, to Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA Ltd) addressed to Mr Malcolm Corbett, their chief executive; and why a payment of £32,750 was made on 15 March, while the terms of reference of the Scrutiny and Liaison Committee were in draft form.

Baroness Wilcox: The grant offer was made to INCA Ltd. Mr Malcolm Corbett is a member of INCA Ltd.
	Payments by my department to INCA Ltd have been made properly in accordance with the terms of the grant offer letter. Details of the payments have been given in previous Answers.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what procurement process was employed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to ensure transparency in issuing the contract to Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd to license the four NextGen Roadshow one-day events; how many requests for quotations were made to other providers; how many other offers to stage roadshows were received; and whether they will place all relevant documents in the Library of the House.

Baroness Wilcox: No contract was issued by my department to Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd for the purposes outlined in the Question.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider terminating the grant to Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd issued by the Director of Communications, Content Industries Directorate, at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 17 December 2009 for possible violation of terms in subsections (ii) to (iv) of Section 12.

Baroness Wilcox: No. All payments made to Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd by the department have been properly made in accordance with the terms of the grant offer letter.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ask the Financial Services Authority to investigate the compliance of Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd (INCA Ltd) with the company rules lodged upon its formation; whether they will place a copy of those rules in the Library of the House; how much money they, Government agencies, local authorities and regional development agencies have paid to INCA Ltd since its formation; for what purpose; and which department or body paid the money in each case.

Baroness Wilcox: As per Answers to previous recent Questions from the noble Lord, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has not had any reason to investigate INCA Ltd and nor have the Government. INCA's rules are publicly available from the FSA. A grant offer letter was made to INCA Ltd by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in December 2009. Under the terms of the letter a grant of up to £150,000 was available.
	Payments under the terms of the offer letter have been made to INCA Ltd as follows:
	11 March 2010-£31,750.00;30 March 2010-£14,089.46;20 April 2010-£13,053.62; and10 June 2010-£25,117.07.
	The total amount paid to date is therefore £84,010.15.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government who were the independent assessors who (a) have been assessing, and (b) will assess, the delivery of advice given on broadband and next generation access by Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd and Community Broadband Network Ltd; and what were or are their qualifications and experience.

Baroness Wilcox: No circumstances have arisen which would require such assessors to be appointed and none has been appointed.

Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place for evaluating the benefits of advice given by, and any deployment of broadband and next generation access by, Independent Networks Co-operative Association Ltd and Community Broadband Network Ltd.

Baroness Wilcox: No circumstances have arisen which would require such measures.

Israel

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are taking steps to ensure that the confiscated possessions of British citizens recently deported from Israel are returned to them, and that they receive legal assistance in any claims for compensation.

Lord Howell of Guildford: We have been in regular contact with the Israelis regarding the missing property. We understand that the property was transferred to Turkey, where any items that were not claimed are now held by IHH, the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, the organisers of the flotilla. We are communicating any information we have to those British nationals who were on the flotilla.
	The Government do not provide legal assistance for British nationals in regards to claims for compensation. We can provide them with a list of local lawyers who will be able to advise them on the legal process.

Meat: Slaughterhouses

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to obtain consent from the European Commission for the production in slaughterhouses of smoked skin-on sheep carcases; and whether they propose to expedite the application.

Earl Howe: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) wrote to the European Commission in May 2010 to ask it to consider proposing an amendment to the European Union food hygiene rules to allow production of skin-on sheep meat. Before making any proposal, the Commission will need to satisfy itself that such a change would be consistent with the objectives of the food hygiene legislation and may require further information or ask the European Food Safety Authority to provide a risk assessment. Any proposal would then need to be approved by a committee of the member states before it could be adopted into law. The entire process of securing the necessary change may take one to two years. The FSA will do whatever it can to assist progress on this matter.

Museums and Galleries

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to assess the provision of entry to national museums and galleries, and give national museums greater discretion.

Lord Shutt of Greetland: We are committed to maintaining free admission for national museums and galleries, and will be examining options for providing greater freedoms to allow them to become more entrepreneurial and effective in attracting private funding in the future.

Plain English

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will issue guidance to all members of the Government, departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies on the use of plain English.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will issue guidance to all members of the Government, departments, executive agencies and non-departmental bodies to refrain from using jargon.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Ensuring that the information they provide is understood by the public is an essential duty of Government. Detailed guidance on the use of plain English is already available for members of the Government, departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

Royal Household: Travel

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the royal travel grant in aid in the context of their proposals for sustainable travel; and, if so, what measures they will consider in that review.

Earl Attlee: Expenditure of the royal grant in aid budget is the responsibility of the Royal Household. In deciding the most appropriate mode of travel for official travel, the household will have regard to the following key criteria:
	safety; security; value for money; length of journey; minimising the disruption to others; effective use of the Royal Family's time; environmental impact; andtransport which is consistent with the requirement and dignity of the occasion.
	The Royal Household's objectives in managing royal travel expenditure are:
	to contract in the most economic and efficient way consistent with the above criteria; andto ensure that members of the Royal Household take financial considerations fully into account when framing, reaching, or giving effect to decisions which bear upon the grant in aid.
	Accountability and transparency are achieved through publication of a detailed annual report published as royal public finances.

Sport: Football Clubs

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the football governance rules, particularly in respect of the relationship between the owners of football clubs and supporters.

Lord Shutt of Greetland: While it is for the football authorities to run our national game, the Government will encourage the Football Association, Premier League, and Football League to work closely together to improve the governance and regulation of the national game. This includes exploring better ways to involve supporters in their local clubs.

Superannuation Act 1972

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the relevant text of the notes on Section 2(3) of the Superannuation Act 1972 available to Ministers at the time of the Bill's passage through Parliament.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: A copy of the notes on Section 2(3) of the Superannuation Act 1972 that were available to Ministers at the time of the Bill's passage through Parliament have been placed in the Library.

Transport: Investment Schemes

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proposals they have for revising the method of assessing proposed transport investment schemes.

Earl Attlee: In the coalition agreement we committed to reform the way decisions are made on which transport projects to prioritise, so that the benefits of low-carbon proposals (including light rail schemes) are fully recognised. We will announce details of how this reform is to be implemented in due course.

Transport: Roads

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what level of vehicle numbers per day they require in order for consent to be given for the development of a dual carriageway or a motorway.

Earl Attlee: Consent for the development of a new dual carriageway or motorway is based on a variety of factors, including traffic flow. In each case, a local assessment, based on forecast traffic flows, must be made which takes account of the combined economic, environmental and operational impact of the proposed scheme. This assessment is used to inform the case for consent for a dual carriageway or motorway.
	The improvement of existing roads requires that each increase in carriageway standard must be justified incrementally and each decision must provide maximum value for money.